You're Why I Live
by Sweeney1999
Summary: AU. Kairi's having a video contest- make a video of yourself (fully clothed), telling her why you want to be her boyfriend. It was only open to the seniors, like her. So when she's just about to give up, and fall asleep from such horrible candidates, a familiar voice rings through the computer speakers, what happens? And what does the boy tell her to do? SoKai.


**A/N: Wow! I'm really in the fanfiction mood! I be popping these things out like octomom be poppin' out babies. ;) And I know, the whole idea of the contest is a little stupid, but oh well.**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just borrowing the characters for my own creative purposes- because, quite frankly, I'm not creative enough to come up with something as cool as Kingdom Hearts.**

Kairi was running. Running to save his life. His life, the life that was so precious to her, yet she didn't realize it until 5 minutes before. And now, she was running, towards the school, knowing that if she didn't make it, things would go horribly wrong- not just for her, but for everyone on the island.

**Two Hours and Ten Minutes Before**

Kairi was just about to begin watching the videos that had been submitted to her through her email. A day before, Friday, she announced to the senior class of Destiny Islands High School, that she was having a contest- a contest to see who could have the pleasure of being her boyfriend. All they had to do was send her an email, with a video of themselves (fully clothed) and tell her about themselves and why Kairi should consider them, all in under three minutes. The whole school was talking about it by the end of the day- after all, Kairi was the most wanted single girl in school. Her friend, Riku, even told her that some he heard some freshman talking about it, saying they were going to submit videos, too. Kairi laughed, though, saying she'd probably pass them. Riku laughed.

So Kairi sat down on her bed, leaning into the pillows with her laptop in her lap, with her rating clipboard in her hands. She had a system- if she liked a guy, she was going to write his name down, and rate him out of ten, depending on his reasons and how cute he was (she needed some sort of cuteness level, right?). So she watched the first video of David Gallagher, one of the linemen for the football team. She gave him a 7, mainly because the only reason he wanted to date her was because he was a jock, and she'd look good with him. But he was pretty hot, so he got some points. Kairi went on like this for a good hour and forty-five until it started to get boring and she began to doze off. Most what she got were sixes and sevens, but there were a few eights and nines in there. Kairi was even surprised to see a few girls that had volunteered (Kairi would keep their secret, but she just didn't roll that way). She was almost asleep, until she heard a familiar voice come through the computer's speakers.

"Hello? Is this thing on? I think so, okay good. Hi, Kairi." The voice said. Kairi's eyes shot wide open. Low and behold, there was her best friend on the computer screen- Sora. Kairi watched the screen intently, writing his name down on her clipboard.

"In case you forgot my name, it's Sora, and I'm your best friend. And now, you're probably going, 'Why is Sora auditioning? Is he trying to say that he likes me? Or does he just not want me to get hurt?' Well, I do indeed like you, a lot. It's actually a lot more than that, but first, I have to tell you a story. You know how the mayor, your father, always says he found you on the beach and just fell in love with you, so he took you home to his wife, who couldn't have kids? Yeah? Well, he's lying. You see, on that fateful day, he wasn't the one who found you- I did. I was on the beach, making a sand castle when I saw you on the beach, sleeping. Instead of being smart, and taking you to the police, I took you to the mayor, knowing he'd know what to do. I saw you at school a week later, and we became best friends." Sora explained, informing Kairi about how she actually wound up in the mayor's house.

Kairi was shocked. She'd lived her whole life, so far, thinking that her hero was her father, but in reality it was Sora.

"Great- one story out of the way, one to go, sort of. More like one and a half." Sora smiled. "Now, on a more serious subject." Sora sighed. "I just hate serious subjects, but this has to be said. When…when my mom died…my dad- step father, sorry, he's my step father. When my mom died, my step father gained, sort of, an opportunity- to ruin the person that ruined his chance of having living a worry free, easy going life style, all topped off with frequent sex- me. He's always hated me for being that rock in the road that ruined his free ride. So when she died…he took out his angers on me. Remember those days when 'perfect attendance Sora' was absent from school, for a good day or two? Yeah…I was in the hospital, recovering from the more serious beatings that he had given me. And of course, he'd lie straight through his teeth when he nurses asked him what happened, saying a shelf in our garage broke and fell on me or something like that. Don't believe me? Think that I'm just trying to guilt trip my best friend into dating me, because after all, my stepdad is a cop, so he wouldn't hurt me, right? Well, I'll prove you wrong. Look, see for yourself." Sora told her as he lifted up part of his shirt, revealing his stomach.

Kairi was stunned speechless at what she saw. Hundreds of nicks, gashes and scars covered Sora's stomach area- a particularly long one in a diagonal line from his belly button to the bottom of his rib-cage. She felt tears welling in her eyes. How did she not know that her best friend was being abused? The little voice in her head answered for her. _Because he's always so damn happy. _

"Yeah, now you believe me." Sora said, still smiling, like this was a happy subject to talk about. "And before you ask, I didn't turn him in because, well, he's a cop. And he's got cop friends. And you never know what could happen when you turn in your step dad cop, who has cop friends. So I endured my beatings. But- here's the kicker- I didn't want to. I wanted to just crawl into a hole and die. But, I couldn't do that. I had people that I had to live for. No, not myself, because…well what's the point of living for a life of beatings and hospital trips. No, I was living for someone else- you. You were always the person I lived for…when I was seconds from death, I would think of you…and then somehow I'd miraculously pull out of it and live. So, I guess you could say that I love you." Sora smiled.

Kairi was silently crying by then. To think, that this boy had rescued her when she was little, and now, she learns that she's rescued him too. And- and- he loves her. He just admitted that he loved her. She didn't know what to think, what to do- she just learned that her best guy friend loves her, and that he's been beaten for the past four years.

"And now- the whole point of this video. It's not really that I want to date you, although that would be a dream come true. No, I came here to tell you where to find me. I'll be on the roof of the high school- until 3. I'll let you guess what happens at 3:01." Sora said.

Kairi's eyes widened. Was he saying-? He couldn't be-? Why would he-? Oh, wait, I know why- HE'S BEEN BEATEN FOR FOUR YEARS! But…but why tell me?

"Now you're asking yourself, why tell me? Why would Sora tell me these things? Maybe I just need you to save me- one last time. Oh, and don't try to call me, you'll only be wasting your time." Sora said, as he took his phone out of his pocket and dropped it in a cup of water. "If you want to save me- you know where I'll be. If you're too late…well…I guess you could say this is my note. Bye, Kairi." Sora said, smiling one last time before the screen went black.

Kairi was in shock. _What are you doing, sitting here, and not going to save him?! He needs you_! Kairi's brain told her. She kicked into over drive and looked at her bedside clock. 2:50. She could make it. She could make it! Later, she would thank God that she was wearing shoes, but she didn't have time to think about that. She shot out of her room and down the stairs. Her parents saw her, heading for the door.

"Kairi, where are you going? You're still grounded for getting home late last night. You know what that means, no going out." Her father said to her. Kairi didn't care she was grounded- she needed to save him! She flew out the door and down the steps, her parents yelling at her from the door. Kairi didn't look back, she needed to save him! She ran as fast as she could, as hard as she could, towards the school, which was about 6 blocks away from her house. You could bet she was running hard.

People gave her weird looks as she ran past them, going full speed, but they disregarded her. At one point she ran into Riku, but she didn't have time to stop and talk, she had five minutes! She could hear Riku yelling her name from behind her, but she didn't care she kept going.

When she had finally reached the school, she looked up at the roof, but didn't see Sora standing on the edge or anything, so she still had time! But that didn't stop her! For all she knew, she could only have a minute left! And in that minute, she sprinted harder than she ever had in her entire life, up two flights of stairs, onto the roof.

She saw him! He was still standing, looking out at the play island, where they used to play when they were little kids. He wasn't facing her, though, his back was. She ran up to him and hit him full force, pulling him into a hug from behind. He stumbled a bit, but he knew who it was.

"So I take it you got my video?" Sora asked, softly. Kairi nodded into his back. Sora turned around and tilted Kairi's head up, and looked into her eyes, her crying eyes.

"Don't cry, Kairi. I'm here. You saved me. You found me and you saved me, again. Thank you." Sora comforted, rubbing Kairi's back.

"But I *sniffle* I thought*sniffle* I thought I was going*sniffle* going to be late and, and, and you were going to, to, to be surrounded by p-pe-people and I'd n-nev-never see you again." Kairi cried into his shirt, staining his shirt with her tears.

"But you weren't late, and that's what's important. You saved me, like you always do, and now…now maybe I'll- we'll- have a chance. A chance to do what? I have no idea. But we'll have a chance." Sora smiled. Kairi looked up at him, into his bright blue eyes and smiled back.

"There 'ya go. There's that smile I love." Sora said. Kairi wasn't thinking about the fact that Sora almost killed himself- she was just thinking about how he was hers and she was his- and how they saved each other.

"Sora?" Kairi said, still looking at him.

"Yes?" Sora asked. Kairi thought about the video that she watched 10 minutes ago.

"I love you, too." Kairi said, before slowly leaning towards his face- closing her eyes- and kissing him. It was slow- very, very slow, and his lips were soft and tasted like mint. Their lips were moving in sync, and Kairi honestly couldn't maintain a single thought. It wasn't Kairi's first kiss, but it felt like it should've been.

Eventually, they broke apart and they returned to their previous position- Kairi hugging Sora and Sora's head resting on hers. They stayed like that until someone from behind them breathed out heavily, "Am I, interrupting something?"

Kairi and Sora broke out of their hug- but still managed to hold hands- and saw Riku, breathing heavily, hands on his knees, hunched over.

"Riku? Why are you here?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow towards Kairi.

"I saw*pant* running and*pant* she never runs*pant* that fast. So I*pant* followed her, and*pant, pant* here I am." Riku breathed out.

"Oh?" Sora looked at Kairi again, raising an eyebrow again.

"But anyway, why were you running so fast Kairi?" Riku asked, his breath regained. Kairi looked at Sora. Sora did the talking. He said, "I'll send you the link." Riku looked utterly confused, but he just shook it off, knowing it would be explained later.

Do you want to know what happened after? Riku saw the video, and said it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw. Sora's dad was arrested, no possible bail, and all of his cop friends were fired for not reporting the obvious child abuse. Kairi's parents didn't get mad at her, because they learned that she had saved Sora's life. And as for Sora and Kairi? Well they soon became the most popular couple in Destiny Islands High School. Somehow, the school got hold of the video, and they showed it to the students. Needless to say, nobody tried to mess with their relationship after seeing that. At the end of school, they were voted most likely to get married. And you know what? It came true.


End file.
